


And So It Goes On

by fromcrossroadstoking



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Gen, emotional exhaustion, not going to lie its a bit sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:56:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24428368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fromcrossroadstoking/pseuds/fromcrossroadstoking
Summary: Bull might not always show a lot of emotion, but taking care of the replacements takes its toll.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 9





	And So It Goes On

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the HBO War characterizations, not the actual men.

Bull Randleman was a quiet mountain of a man. At least, that’s how most people would describe him. Few people had ever seen the gentle giant raise his voice or get flustered. The man was a rock. But rock`s can have cracks too; tiny fissures that build over time. Bull was just very good at hiding his.

Being in charge of replacements was a difficult thing. They were trained fast and shipped out even faster. They arrived to him baby faced and overconfident, with shiny new jump wings and the enthusiasm to match. A few weeks at war and their jump wings were dull, their confidence deflated, their enthusiasm withered, and their baby faces were covered in dirt and grime. If they lived that long.

That was the other thing about replacements; they died fast. They died faster than they were trained and even faster than they shipped out. Gone in the blink of an eye. Bull never got used to it.

One would think that after a while, he would know better than to get attached. But Bull could never help it. Each time a new face showed up in their ranks, Bull quietly took them under his wing. With the patience of a saint, he corrected how they held their weapons, helped them with unruly chutes, explained to them how best to dig their foxholes. He guided them as best he could, as best as he knew how. He had never been a teacher, never fancied such a job. But Bull was not someone who could sit by and watch these young men struggle.

And so it went. They would arrive and Bull would be their rock; their guiding light in a dark and ugly world. And they looked up to him. And they relied on him. And they worked hard. And still they would die, afraid and far too young.

Bull would be a liar if he said it didn’t get to him. He would be a liar if he said he didn’t remember every one of their deaths as if it were only yesterday that they left this life. Thankfully, no one asked him (they knew better) and so he didn’t have to lie.

Henderson was the one who almost did him in. The straw that almost broke the camel’s back. He had arrived as all the rest had, fresh faced and eager. He had chubby cheeks and bright eyes and somehow managed to be shorter than Perconte (Bull hadn’t thought that possible). Henderson was naive and optimistic, with an almost constant toothy smile. In all honesty, Bull had little doubt that the kid had lied about his age in order to join. The kid couldn’t be older than fourteen or fifteen. Bull kept an extra close eye on him, without being obvious about it, after all there was no point in ruffling the kid’s pride.

The thing about war is, it doesn`t care if you haven’t reached the age of sixteen yet, or if you’re full of hope for the future, or if you have a mountain of a guardian angel watching over you. War takes what it wants and that day it took Henderson. 

Easy Company had found themselves engaged with a group of German soldiers in a small town, just as they had done so many times before. There was nothing unique about this skirmish, nothing to mark how this one would stand out, until it did. 

Bull had ordered Henderson to keep close as they made their way forward through the streets. Henderson did as he was told without complaint or hesitation. It hadn’t mattered. The bullet had found him, straight and true. The sniper who had fired the shot was taken out by Shifty only a moment later. But it didn’t matter. Bull had yelled for a medic and Roe, as always, had appeared almost immediately. And that didn’t matter either. Henderson was dead within minutes. That was the only thing that mattered.

Bull sat back against the half collapsed wall behind him. He could practically feel a fissure split into a crack somewhere deep inside, threatening to finally break him. He swallowed hard and rubbed his face. He allowed himself a moment to gain his composure. One moment turned into two and then into three. And before he knew it, Easy had taken the town and he was still sitting there, a crumbling wall at his back and a child`s body at his feet.

Martin was the one to finally come get him, having been alerted to Bull`s current state by Roe. At Martin`s gentle prodding, Bull finally got up and moving again. He took a deep breath and steadied himself. Bull knew that this was not the time for him to lose it, not when there would be more bright eyed kids on the way to replace today`s losses. Shouldering his gun, Bull knew he still had work to do. He moved forward, mentally preparing himself to meet the next Henderson, as he always did.


End file.
